Cyber Resilience

CVE-2026-28871

XSS in Apple Ipados ≤ 18.7.7

Published
25 March 2026
Modified
30 March 2026
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 4.3
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N
EPSS Score 0.0028 20th percentile
Risk Priority 35 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2026-28871 is a medium-severity Cross-site Scripting (CWE-79) vulnerability in Apple Ipados. Its CVSS base score is 4.3 (Medium).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Drive-by Compromise (T1189); ranked at the 20th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to SI-10 (Information Input Validation) and SI-15 (Information Output Filtering) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

A logic issue was addressed with improved checks. This issue is fixed in Safari 26.4, iOS 18.7.7 and iPadOS 18.7.7, iOS 26.4 and iPadOS 26.4, macOS Tahoe 26.4. Visiting a maliciously crafted website may lead to a cross-site scripting attack.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI

T1189 Drive-by Compromise Initial Access
Adversaries may gain access to a system through a user visiting a website over the normal course of browsing.
Why these techniques?

Direct browser XSS flaw triggered by visiting malicious site maps cleanly to Drive-by Compromise.

Confidence: HIGH · MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise v19.0

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2023-32445Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2021-1879Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2023-4136Same product: Apple Macos
CVE-2023-2318Same product: Apple Macos
CVE-2023-4829Shared CWE-79
CVE-2023-5896Shared CWE-79
CVE-2023-49270Shared CWE-79
CVE-2023-5452Shared CWE-79
CVE-2012-0767Same vendor: Apple
CVE-2023-46659Shared CWE-79

Affected Assets

apple
safari
≤ 26.4
apple
ipados
≤ 18.7.7 · 26.0 — 26.4
apple
iphone os
≤ 18.7.7 · 26.0 — 26.4
apple
macos
≤ 26.4

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)
  • SI-10 Information Input Validation
  • SI-15 Information Output Filtering
  • SC-18 Mobile Code
Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)

Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V1.1.2
  • V1.3.2

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

prevent

Directly mitigates CWE-79 by requiring validation and sanitization of all web content and scripts before processing or rendering in the browser.

prevent

Enforces output filtering and encoding of untrusted web data, blocking the malicious script injection that the Safari logic flaw failed to stop.

SC-18 Mobile Code partial match
prevent

Restricts execution of mobile or active web code from untrusted sites, limiting the impact of the cross-site scripting vector described in the CVE.

Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

PR.PS-06 mostly match
prevents

Secure SDLC practices directly target introduction of XSS via coding standards/testing (mostly), yet the single broad outcome leaves many specific neutralization vectors unaddressed (partial).

PR.PS-02 partial match
prevents

Patching and EOL replacement can remediate known XSS instances in libraries or frameworks (partial) but do nothing to enforce input neutralization in application code (none).

Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

detects

Secure-coding testing and automated code-analysis tools are applied to detect improper neutralization of script-related content during web-page generation.

prevents

Knowledge exchange on emerging attack techniques and patches reduces the likelihood that cross-site scripting flaws remain unaddressed in deployed applications.

prevents

Operational indicators of compromise for web-application attacks can be incorporated into WAF or input-filtering rules, lowering the likelihood that unsanitized data reaches the browser.

prevents

Requiring language-specific secure-coding standards and automated scanning during the SDLC catches missing output encoding or improper neutralization of untrusted data before the software reaches production.

prevents

Secure-coding standards, SAST scans and removal of insecure code samples together eliminate the failure to neutralize script content that produces cross-site scripting flaws.

none

Webpage malware scanning and block-listing of known malicious sites reduce the likelihood that reflected or stored script payloads reach a user’s browser.

References